Tommy Hilfiger Loves The High Line, Hates Short Shorts

Tommy Hilfiger with his wife Dee backstage.
Photo: WireImage

Tommy Hilfiger may have been inspired by "modern prep" at yesterday evening's Spring 2012 Menswear show on the High Line, but that doesn't mean he would wear everything in the collection: "I would wear 88%. I don’t wear short shorts, I wouldn’t wear a camouflage shirt with a camo jacket and camo shoes, but I would wear a piece of camo. I wouldn’t wear a nautical striped jacket with nautical striped pants, but I’d wear a nautical striped jacket. I would say that I would wear a great percentage of the collection."

Hilfiger mentions camouflage and nautical stripes for a reason: almost every look featured one or the other. Even though it was 80 degrees and sunny in New York, Hilfiger was wearing a nautical Breton striped cashmere sweater, his favorite piece from the collection. Where did the camouflage come from, then? Contemporary modern art of course. "Andy Warhol is one of my favorite modern artists and he has a camouflage painting done in different colors, so we incorporated that camouflage print idea into clothing in different fabrications, different methods of printing, different colors. We also did camo loafers and camel desert boots and camo combat boots. In addition to that, we also did a whole nautical look - lots of different stripes and colors inspired by Basquiat, Rothko, Haring."

The most remarkable part of the show, other than the studs in the front row (we saw you Ed Westwick, James Marsden, Theophilus London and Kellan Lutz), was the location. As the first fashion show ever on the High Line, things could have gone really wrong. It could have rained, but instead it was a beautiful day (albeit a little too sunny) and the setting seemed ideal to be transformed into a runway. Brooklyn Lagers and panini sandwiches were served on silver trays by model-esque male waiters before the show began, and as attendees were seated at a table there was no awkward juggling to be done. Hilfiger decided to show at the High Line because, "We are at iconic uptown Lincoln Center for the women’s, and we needed to match that for the men, so we decided to go for iconic downtown." This effort to keep his menswear and womenswear collections separate "gives us the opportunity to really focus on mens in its entirety and then to a couple days later focus on women's in its entirety," yet it doesn't extend to the garments themselves. After confessing that I loved his cashmere sweater, I asked what Hilfiger thought of women stealing pieces from his menswear collection. His answer: "I love it. I love it. I love it! And that will continue always."